The short answer (assuming you mean from an "empty" battery state) is no, you won't fill up your c-max battery from empty by just using braking regeneration (unless you live at the top of a mountain and drive downhill for a very long distance braking in regeneration all along the way - then you might be able to regen that battery to full - a very unlikely scenario).

You need to plug it in to fill the battery up so you can use that $1.25 gallon (gasoline equivalent price which depends on where you live) electricity to drive on.

Once you have used up the charge from plugging in, then the vehicle will shift to a hybrid mode where a good chunk of your braking energy (depending on how slow or fast you stop) will be regained back to the battery for use on your next acceleration (but those amounts are very small compared to the amounts used for pure electric driving (and charging).

The short answer (assuming you mean from an "empty" battery state) is no, you won't fill up your c-max battery from empty by just using braking regeneration (unless you live at the top of a mountain and drive downhill for a very long distance braking in regeneration all along the way - then you might be able to regen that battery to full - a very unlikely scenario).

You need to plug it in to fill the battery up so you can use that $1.25 gallon (gasoline equivalent price which depends on where you live) electricity to drive on.

Once you have used up the charge from plugging in, then the vehicle will shift to a hybrid mode where a good chunk of your braking energy (depending on how slow or fast you stop) will be regained back to the battery for use on your next acceleration (but those amounts are very small compared to the amounts used for pure electric driving (and charging).

Hey thanks for the great answer. It was really helpful. I tried to find this information about C-max Energi but couldn't get it online.

>The short answer (assuming you mean from an "empty" battery state) is no, you won't fill up your c-max battery from empty by just using braking regeneration (unless you live at the top of a mountain and drive downhill for a very long distance braking in regeneration all along the way - then you might be able to regen that battery to full - a very unlikely scenario).

Found a copy of the owner's manual on line the other day, and the short answer is a "yes", although a qualified one. According to the manual, the most that regenerating can ever do is to recharge the battery to 95% of full charge (this applies to both types of C-Maxes, by the way) -- verified this by reading through a current version of the manual at the Ford dealer. This probably has to do with the charging and discharging characteristics of the Lithium batteries (think of smoking Dreamliners here, although the automobile manufacturers have chosen a safer electrode/electrolyte configuration which isn't quite so prone to overheating problems).

I do live on top of a large hill, and what I was trying to determine was whether I could use plug-in charging to make up only the loss arising from the conversions of potential energy to kinetic energy and back. IOW, drive up the hill (starting with a fully charged battery) and drive back down (regenerating). Energy conversion losses dictate that you can never fully recover all of the energy used for driving up, otherwise perpetual motion machines would be possible. I figure that I won't have to plug it in at home long enough to recharge "100%", just long enough to compensate for this loss.

What the Ford salesmen were telling me is that the pug-in has a two section battery, and that the plug-in charger charges one part while regeneration charges the other. This didn't make any sense because the plug-in is essentially the same as a non-plug-in, the only differences being the capacity of the main battery and the presence or absence of the plug-in battery charger. The owner's manual even says so, although in an oblique and roundabout way.

Based on inventory costs and the economics of scale, I seriously doubt Ford would design, manufacture, and stock two completely separate C-Max power packages (engine, alternator, motor, electronic controls, etc.), one for the [plain] hybrid and the other for the [plug-in] Energi. Doing so would drive the price of the Energi closer to that of a Tesla.

Well, there are two battery systems, one is just like the normal Cmax hybrid that recharges and the other is the higher voltage motor that lets you run on electric for maybe 20 miles or so. It did cost Ford more to make this, so that's why the price is $5000 higher, but in fact with the federal and state rebate in MD, the price of the Energi is actually LESS than the normal hybrid (though you have to wait a year to get the tax rebates). Not sure why anyone would buy the normal hybrid given the existing tax rebates.

Well, there are two battery systems, one is just like the normal Cmax hybrid that recharges and the other is the higher voltage motor that lets you run on electric for maybe 20 miles or so. It did cost Ford more to make this, so that's why the price is $5000 higher, but in fact with the federal and state rebate in MD, the price of the Energi is actually LESS than the normal hybrid (though you have to wait a year to get the tax rebates). Not sure why anyone would buy the normal hybrid given the existing tax rebates.

if you problem to use it then you can go to your shop center to provide your info and solve it.slow stochastic

First of all you have to clear that battery indication indicate your energi power and show your low battery power.that depends on the driving status of your car.for more information about the car equipment please click the below linkdiesel test bench.

I was concerned about the necessity stated that the 120V charger required a dedicated outlet, meaning (to me) that the only thing connected to that switch on the breaker panel would be the C-Max charger. My wife now has one, and I took a look at the charger and it says it's a 12A input. Since most breakers are at least 15A, plus the fact that we have been using it without tripping the breaker, it is working fine where we have it plugged into.

The 120V charger will charge the battery to 100% per the gauge indicator. My wife drives about 20 miles to work one way, and on the way back has up to 4 miles left. We went to the mall, about a 2.5 mile trip one way, and came back home. I then charged it again. There seems to be a memory effect, as when she got to work the next day she only had about 1 mile left. It does take around 7 hours to charge from depleted using this, and I am in the process of installing a 240V charger....